Kings Heath library

Consultation on future of Birmingham libraries

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Posted by Kate Wilcox:

Birmingham City Council (BCC) has outlined plans for the future of Birmingham’s community libraries. The plan is now out for consultation and everybody has the chance to comment on it.

The key point is that all the city’s libraries have been classified in one of four tiers. Kings Heath library is in Tier 1.

The good news is that it is expected to remain open. It will also be open for the same number of hours each week as now.

Overall the proposals mean Kings Heath library will:

  • be open for 35 hours a week (the same as now)
  • remain in its current building
  • move towards more self-service systems (details are not yet known)
  • be used to deliver other services such as benefit verification

More details about the consultation are available at the following links:

If you want to have a say in the consultation, you have until 27 January 2017 to make your views known. You can do it in two ways:

If you have any interest in Kings Heath library it is important that you are part of this consultation. Please fill in the form and send it to BCC.

Photo credit: Kings Heath library by Tony Hisgett (CC BY 2.0)

Local Innovation Fund meeting 13 December 2016

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Birmingham City Council (BCC) has launched a Local Innovation Fund (LIF). It will make £48,000 available to each electoral ward in the city. The money is intended to fund projects ‘that focus on partnership, collaboration, active citizenship and doing things differently’.

The Moseley and Kings Heath Community Partnership is holding a meeting at 7pm on Tuesday 13 December 2016 to discuss the fund and the ways in which it might be applied in Moseley and Kings Heath.

If you have thoughts on how £48,000 could be used to the benefit of local residents, please come to the meeting.

Date: Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Time: 7pm
Venue: The Moseley Exchange, 149-153 Alcester Road, B13 8JP

You can find more information about the fund on Birmingham City Council’s website.

ASDA Kings Heath delivery times trial

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Kings Heath High Street has been identified as one of the most polluted roads in Birmingham. That and the dangerous nature of the road has led Birmingham City Council (BCC) to search for ways to improve matters for residents.

The council is teaming up with ASDA for a trial of new delivery arrangements. During the trial, deliveries to the ASDA store in Kings Heath will be re-scheduled to take place outside peak traffic times. This will reduce the number of lorries heading along the High Street.

The store’s current delivery hours are 07:30 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday, and 09:00 to 16:00 on Sundays, bank holidays and public holidays.

The proposed changes are 06:00 to 19:00 Monday to Saturday, and 08:00 to 18:00 on Sundays and bank holidays.

BCC and ASDA want to know what local people think of the idea. Representatives of both will be at the store on:

  • Thursday, 24 November 2016 between 3pm and 7pm.
  • Friday, 25 November 2016 between 12 noon and 7pm. Local councillors should be there from 5.30pm on Friday.

Anybody with an interest in this project can go to the store to discuss it at these times. No appointment is necessary.

More information can be obtained from:

  • Kevin Cummins, Senior Transportation Officer at Birmingham City Council (Kevin.Cummins@birmingham.gov.uk)
  • Andrew Lester, who is facilitating the sessions (alester@hardhat.co.uk)

Reporting blocked roadside drains

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Localised flooding can, sometimes, be caused by blocked storm drains, known as gullies. These are found at the edges of the city’s roads. We’re approaching the time of year when these are even more likely to be blocked because fallen leaves can build up across the gratings over gullies.

Now Birmingham City Council has introduced an online form so that local people can report blocked gullies. BCC wants reports to include ‘An accurate location (including landmarks, nearby house numbers or road junctions)’ as well as ‘A detailed description of the problem (e.g. blocked gully or missing grate)’.

If you want to report a blocked or damaged gully, visit the reporting form.

Obviously there is no guarantee that reporting a blocked gully will result in it being cleared. Indeed, the road layout in some places makes it almost impossible for surface water to drain away. If you report a flooding problem and it doesn’t get cleared, then the next step is to report it to your local councillors along with the reference number.

Who’s checking on Amey?

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Members of the Moseley and Kings Heath Greener, Cleaner, Safer Environment group were surprised to be told that Amey is ‘moving towards one hundred per cent monitoring’ of highways repair work. The news was delivered by an Amey representative at a recent meeting. Amey currently carries out all highway maintenance work for Birmingham City Council (BCC).

This leads to an extraordinary conclusion: that nobody is currently checking all the work that Amey is doing for BCC to make sure that it’s up to standard.

There should be a considerable amount of work to be checked. The contract with Amey started in 2010, runs for 25 years and is worth £2.7 billion.

However, it seems that BCC has taken action by imposing financial penalties on Amey following complaints from residents that work was not being done or was not up to standard. Amey has disputed the allegations, claiming that all work meets the standards set out in the contract. The argument has been rolling since Autumn 2015. According to the Birmingham Post, it was still not resolved as recently as September 2016.

But why does BCC rely on local residents to monitor the work carried out by its biggest contractor? Given the value of the contract, it must surely be possible to have BCC staff checking every job completed by Amey?

And on a £2.7 billion contract, it should surely have been possible to make Amey pay for the BCC staff needed to check the work.

Kings Heath library

Library opening hours changing

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Cuts to the library services in Birmingham have resulted in reduced opening hours for Kings Heath library. From Monday 11 July 2016, the new hours will be:

  • Mondays: open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm
  • Tuesdays: open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm
  • Wednesdays: closed all day
  • Thursdays: closed in the morning and open from 12 noon to 7pm
  • Fridays: open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm
  • Saturdays: open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm
  • Sundays: closed all day

Apparently these new arrangements are temporary. There is to be a consultation ‘on a future model for the community library service’ although at present the members of the Residents’ Forum have not been told what shape this future model might take. Nor is there any indication of when the consultation will take place.

When more information is available, it will be posted on the website.

Photo: Kings Heath library by Tony Hisgett (CC BY 2.0)